The ugly duckling is growing into her perennial swan! What a heart warming sight to see this re-birth every year around Easter time. Notice how choppy the water looks. That's because the fishes are so active, they are churning up the water!
This is even after I stupidly left the hose on all night after I was refilling the 15% water volume that we flushed out through the bottom drain last evening. The best laid plans! Everything to save the fish from getting stressed--all for naught! They ended up getting treated to a drastic temp drop from the flood of well water (although being early spring the drop was not as much as it would have been later in the summer). Also disturbed was probably the ph value and the displacement of beneficial bacteria-laden water. Well, every time this happens (which is too often, since I must have ADD) I worry for the fish, but they are always resilient.
That's Davis in the foreground. He loves the pond area as much as we do, and often basks in the sun on the bench. Today, though, he wouldn't sit still for his photo shoot. Darned cat! Our Labrador Retriever, Mattie, generally stays out of the pond area, due to her congenial personality and being scolded a couple times in the beginning, for stepping on baby plants.
Davis sometimes gazes at the fish, but interestingly he never tried to catch them, even when they were very small. I love how that shadow makes me look really thin. ;-)
"What are you doing, Mama? Are you going to pounce on me??" To the right of the stepping stone is Moneywort, to the left Creeping Thyme.
"I like this seat, but since you are moving around, I'm not staying here."
"Yes, I'm the king of the pond area."
Here is the bog, newly uncovered from the pile of oak leaves I bedded it down with last fall. With the harsh winter we had, I'm glad they had the insulation. In the bog, are Pitcher Plants, Sundews, and Venus Flytraps. All are carnivorous perennials and treat us to much entertainment every year. The plants above the bog are Chocolate Ajuga, the plant that was so devastated by blight last year. I had to keep pulling out wilted sections all the way up until frost. I hope the blight does not return. I am going to try dividing and replanting to fill in the spaces, and at the same time aerate within the bed to discourage the fungus. In between the stepping stones are Phlox and Creeping Thyme (which is growing around the stepping stones all over the area).
I cut off the old pitchers last year, and you can just see some new flowers starting to sprout. Wait till you see what they end up looking like! Check back around Mother's Day for that. The red spots you see are also a type of fungus. Unfortunately, the pitchers are inflicted by this spot every year.
You've probably noticed a lot of this plant in the photos so far. It is Phlox that is planted around the perimeter of the pond., and is so lovely in full bloom.
The mound-type plants in the foreground are Catmint. They are very vigorous and get big, but it's nice because they are clumpy in their spreading habit, unlike the regular mint on the other side of the pond. You can see the irises starting to grow as well. There is still a good amount of ground space I need to fill in with sun-loving plants. However, this area is near the birdfeeder, which results in the ground getting littered with sunflower hulls, which then inhibits plant growth.
Here are the Day Lilies, and a Japanese Maple just starting to leaf out. Hope you enjoyed this latest saga in Pond Chronicles!
Sadly, the Japanese Irises seem to be declining. It has only been three years or so, but possibly they need dividing already. I am not a good divider. Don't like to do it, and do not have much experience. The Daylilies will move on in if given the chance.
